Courage of the Blue Boy
by Robert Neubecker
Published by Tricycle Press
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Reviewed by Andrea Sisco
Robert Neubecker is a contributor to Slate.com, Business Week, Time, the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times.
Blue and his best friend Polly are heading out of their blue land for a world adventure. They want to live a more colorful life than the blue one they currently live in. The lands they visit are orange, pink, purple, green, yellow and red. After traveling for awhile, they visit a city that's unlike anything they've seen before. In this city, every color, but blue, is visible.
Blue becomes frightened because there is no blue, anywhere! Can he find the courage to introduce the color blue into a land that doesn't have it?
Artist and author Robert Neubecker's subtle suggestion to children is: show and share your true colors (self) to the world. It will be a better place for everyone if they do.
But I wonder if the message is too subtle. It provides the adult reader to discuss the meaning with the children. And that's a good thing.
Armchair Interviews says: Neubecker's story of courage is delightful and children will enjoy it and the illustrations.